Matt Wolff is entering his 11th season with American University men's basketball and his eighth under head coach Mike Brennan in 2020-21.
Brennan promoted Wolff to an assistant coach in May of 2013 after Wolff spent three seasons as the director of operations under former head coach Jeff Jones.
Wolff is responsible for scouting, recruiting and working with the forwards. He has been instrumental in developing the AU underclassmen and has been part of five recruiting classes that saw over 12 forwards join the team.
In 2020-21, he worked directly with Josh Alexander, Christian Lorng, and Matt Rogers to develop a new-look frontcourt. Alexander had a breakout season in his first stint as the starting big, averaging 9.6 points per game and shooting over 59 percent from the field to lead the team. He also led the team in blocks with 14.
In 2018-19, Wolff's contributions assisted with the reinsertion of Mark Gasperini to the lineup after he missed the previous season. Gasperini averaged double figures in 28 games at center. Wolff was also part of Yilret Yiljep's comeback after he missed four years with a heart issue. Yiljep played in 21 games and made nine starts at power forward in his return to the court.
In his eighth season with American, Wolff made an immediate impact in the development of All-PL Rookie selection Sam Iorio. After Gasperini went down with a season-ending injury during training camp, Wolff worked with Iorio and classmates Jessie Little and Marvin Bragg to be prepared for the heavy workload in the frontcourt. Iorio finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Little and Bragg each started 16 and played nearly 20 minutes per contest.
In 2016-17, Wolff was instrumental in developing Gasperini, who earned All-PL Rookie Team honors. The freshman averaged 11.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. American also saw increased time from GW transfer Matt Cimino, who started the final three games of the season and scored in double figures in two of those games.
In Wolff's sixth season, American welcomed four newcomers into frontcourt positions. Freshman Andrija Matic and Lonnie Rivera saw significant minutes late in the season and junior transfer Paris Maragkos began the season as the starting center. Marko Vasic saw an increase in time and started 21 of the 31 games at power forward.
In 2014-15, Wolff helped the Eagles back to the Patriot League Championship and developed then-sophomore Charlie Jones and junior Marko Vasic into the top defensive forwards in the league. The team consisted of nine forwards with two sitting their transfer years.
The Eagles were transformed in 2013-14, surpassing a ninth-place preseason prediction, improving their win total by 10 games to makes their first NCAA Tournament since 2009. American was ranked nationally in the top 10 in field goal percentage (.495) and points allowed per game (59.1), finishing seventh in each category. The Eagles were also 37th in the country with 15.1 assists per game.
In Wolff's first season as an assistant coach, four Eagles earned All-Patriot League honors, while senior center Tony Wroblicky had a career year, earning PL Defensive Player of the Year Honors. After a second-place regular season finish, American upset top-seeded Boston University, 55-36, in Boston, to claim American's third-ever Patriot League Championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
American was also successful off the court as sophomore guard Jesse Reed earned Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors to lead five Eagles on the conference Academic Honor Roll. Junior guard John Schoof was also named to the NABC Honors Court.
As director of operations prior to 2013, Wolff was responsible handling the day-to-day operations of the basketball office, including film exchange and breakdown, team travel, on-campus recruiting and team camps.
American won 52 games in Wolff’s three seasons in operations, going .600 (24-16) in Patriot League play. The Eagles won 20 games in both 2010-11 and 2011-12, making an appearance in the College Insider Tournament.
Wolff was a member of the Boston University men’s basketball team, playing under his father, former head coach Dennis Wolff. Wolff started 54 of 94 games for the Terriers and was named the America East Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete his senior year. He was also named to the America East All-Defensive Team in his final season and ranked seventh in the conference in both assists per game (3.1) and assist/turnover ratio (1.2).
In 2005 Wolff and BU played in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). Wolff was also a two-time captain, leading the Terriers in his junior and senior seasons.
Wolff graduated from Boston University in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. In the summer of 2017, Wolff married Liza Rebello and currently lives in Glover Park.
